Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

Sounds like Central is a pretty good company to go with ... I've been reading around ... and so far ... I like what I'm reading here ....

 

I would make him hang up the phone, and limit his time on the internet with his wife.
You are the trainer. At this point you are his boss in most things. Yes he can fire you and ask for another trainer, but he is not learning the way he is going now. And he will never make it solo if he cannot sleep on breaks and drive when on duty.
As far as I would be concerned, if he is not in the sleeper sleeping, then he is on duty and needs to be working or learning.
Talking on the phone with the wife an hour a day or so is fine. But at this point it is a safety issue.
What are you going to do in a week when he really needs to start running nights to get use to it? If he cannot run then he will be stopping or falling to sleep, which is pretty common.
You need to draw the line. It is your truck, at least you are paying the rent on it. And he is your student that you are responsible for. If you let him kill himself and possibly you due to lack of sleep it will be your fault for not enforcing limitations. Plus by allowing him to act like this you are doing him no favors in is attempt at turning this into a carrier.

 

Ive actually had this response, "Oh, you have the "new" Qualcomm? I don't know anything about how it works. You're on your own." 'twas the day I gave up on weekend shifts.

 

Is there anyone here running solo lease besides me? If not, really even if there are one or two more, it shows you how many run that route and make it. If you want to do it, plan for 2 months struggling, three months proving yourself and finding a good DM, and 2 more months starting over after the lease. This is the fastest/dumbest way to make it work. Everybody is different so remember this is just my opinion. I am a strange individual and I thrive under stress so this has worked out pretty well for me. Lol. Company drivers can make close to the same money I do and they haven't got anywhere near the liability. On the flip side, I am almost always running, my DM works with me (usually), and I like having a truck I can count on. If you know you can drive I'd say give 'em 3-6 months and make sure you're going to mesh with Central before signing on for 3-5 years. If you're new to driving, definitely give it a year before leasing. You probably have little to no idea what life out here is really like.
After startup costs and all that is out of the way, you can make about 500-1500 a week. Weather, location, and maintenance throw curve balls at you pretty regularly though so save for the inevitable rainy days. It can be done but you have to be VERY determined to make it work running solo. Oh, and don't get in a rush, lose your mind, and bump a truck. It's $150/wk for ten weeks and you can't even think about training for a year... Good luck and keep her shiny side up!

 

What is bumping a truck ?

 

A fender bender or preventable or whatever you wanna call it. I put a 1/4 inch scratch in somebody's grill because I was exhausted, rushing, and taking my surroundings for granted. I caught the truck in the mirror just before the trailer touched it and hit my brakes. It was the slightest touch possible because I only scratched the chrome grill. Luckily, it was a Pete so the grill and hood are all one piece. $3,000 for a new hood... And runnin solo for a year is my reward. If it can be done, I'll tell ya all about it. If it can't, well there's always crab fishin! Lol

 

This trainee has 520lbs of crap that he brought with him to school and training. I weighed the truck today with and without all his #### just out of curiosity. What the heck is central telling these guys to bring all this crap for. This dude told me he has 18 full changes of clothes in his bags!! He even brought a rubber mallet to "check the tires with". LoL all the good trainees I've had and now this dude. I must have really pissed somebody off.

 

When I went to Central, they faxed us a list of what to bring. It was a short list. My co-driver and I together, in our trainer's truck, might have had 200 pounds of stuff. Of course, this was a while ago, and we weren't bringing a laptop or anything interesting. Just 10 days of clothes, map, office supplies, bedding, shower stuff, and laundry stuff. And we were mindful of being 3 in a truck.

Now, when we got our own truck? That's when we had way too much stuff. But never on a trainer's truck.

 

Stop being nice. Put your foot down. And set some rules. And then call the training department, and tell them what's going on. That way, if your trainee calls and complains to them, they're prepared.

Learning to drive and be out on the road can be a real shock to people, but if you're this far into his training, and he's only driving 4-5 hours and staying up his whole break talking, then he needs to be told to knock it off. That can wait until he's driving his own truck, and he can see the results of not driving and staying up all the time.

 

I'm getting a real education just reading all this stuff ..... Thanks to all of you for the input ....